Hilltown Families: A Traveling Photography Exhibit Featuring Life and Landscape in Western MA

In February, the show kicks off celebrations for the 5th anniversary of Hilltown Families with its debut at Cup and Top Café in Florence. An opening reception on Saturday, February 5th from 5-7pm offers the opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate while raising money for the network.

A traveling photography exhibit featuring images of life and landscapes in western Massachusetts will kick off celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the founding of Hilltown Families, an online grassroots communication network for families. Featuring work by photographer and Hilltown Families’ founder, Sienna Wildfield, the show will travel to five different towns in 2011, showcasing images relative to the season and the host town. All images have been featured on HilltownFamilies.org over the years and the exhibit is a fundraiser for Hilltown Families, a community communication network that has been helping to connect people in western Massachusetts for over five years. All net proceeds from the sale of images will benefit the organization.

Ellen Doyle of Williamsburg said, “Hilltown Families is the most amazing resource! It’s a great way to keep in touch with the rest of our unique corner of Massachusetts. I love the way Hilltown Families promotes local writers and artists, all while fostering a sense of community.”

The show begins February 1st, 2011 in Florence, MA for two months at Cup & Top Café, with an opening reception to be held on February 5th from 5-7 p.m. Reception is free.

“The community that benefits from and supports Hilltown Families is the same community that benefits from and supports our cafe,” writes Helen Kahn, owner of Cup & Top Café. “Hilltown Families is an incredible resource for connecting, informing and strengthening our community.  We are so pleased to be able to host the debut of Hilltown Families: A Traveling Photography Exhibit while assisting the fund raising efforts of Hilltown Families.”

From Florence, the exhibit travels to Haydenville in April, when Bread Euphoria will be the host; to the Bullit Reservation in Ashfield for May/June; the Northampton Center for the Arts will host the show in Northampton for July; to Williamsburg in September at Meekins Library; to Elmer’s in Ashfield for five weeks in October in time for the town’s Fall Festival; and finally, to Mocha Maya’s in Shelburne Falls in November.

Wildfield, who founded Hilltown Families over five years ago as a way to connect families and strengthen community in western MA, said “Hilltown Families: A Traveling Photography Exhibit is an opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate our past five years while raising money for the network.  All of the photographs to be shown in this traveling exhibit will have been featured on HilltownFamilies.org and tell a visual story that is unique to our community.  These images give a glimpse into the life and culture of western MA to families visiting, moving to and living in the region.”

The network now hosts a dynamic web site, online bulletin boards, social network, listserv, a weekly radio show and podcast, and collaborations with civic and nonprofit groups, including the Hilltown CDC, Flywheel Arts Collective, Hilltown Home Gardeners Exchange, the Old Creamery Co-Op, among others.

Seth Isman, Economic Developer of the Hilltown CDC says, “Hilltown Families is a model resource for the community. When we want to know what’s happening in the hilltowns, we turn to Hilltown Families first.”

“Hilltown Families: A Traveling Photography Exhibit” is supported in part by grants from local Cultural Councils in Ashfield, Buckland, Chesterfield and Cummington — all local agencies supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.